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Sunday, 13 April 2008 |
 Nicknamed "Shakh", Azerbaijan's highest rated player Mamedyarov must be especially determined to score well at this first Grand Prix Series and regain some confidence, after a period of somewhat disappointing results. And what would be a better place to do it than in his own country? Mamedyarov is certainly capable of a good result, keeping in mind that his two World Under-20 titles (in 2003 and 2005) are still fresh in our memory.
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov was born April 12, 1985 in Sumgayit, Azerbaijan. His two world under-20 titles gained him an invitation to the Essent Tournament 2006, and by winning this one and also the 2007 edition, he achieved world fame.
But before that, Mamedyarov had already ended joint first at the Aeroflot Open in Moscow, in February 2006, with a score of 6.5/9. In October 2006, he won his first Essent Chess Tournament on tiebreak with 4.5 out of 6, finishing shared first with Judit Polgar, ahead of Sokolov and Topalov. A year later he ended clear first, before Van Wely, Ponomariov and Andriasian.
At the Reykjavik Open in March 2006, Mamedyarov finished shared first place with Sargissian (who won on tiebreak), Nataf, Adly and Harikrishna. At the Foros Aerosvit tournament in the same year, he shared 4th place with Shirov and Grischuk and a few months later, at the Tal Memorial in Moscow, he shared fifth with Gelfand and Svidler.
Since his shared second place at the Mtel Masters in May 2007, Mamedyarov seems to have lost his form a bit. At the Tal Memorial in Moscow, in November 2007, he shared 7th place with Ivanchuk and Kamsky, and at the World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk, Mamedyarov was knocked out by Ivan Cheparinov in the third round. At the Corus Chess Tournament in 2008, Mamedyarov scored 6/13, finishing shared 9th with Polgar and Topalov.
"Shakh" is a cheerful 23-year-old who has two sisters who are strong chess players as well. Their brother likes to experiment in the openings. For instance, recently he played 1.e4 c5 2.b3 a few times, and has also tried the Alekhine Defence and the Budapest Gambit.
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